A Delhi court has taken another step in the high-profile Land for Job money laundering case tied to former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. On September 20, Special Judge Vishal Gogne at Rouse Avenue court summoned three more accused: Mustkim Ansari, Lal Babu Chaudhary, and Rajendra Singh. This came after reviewing a supplementary charge sheet from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The case centers on allegations that jobs in Indian Railways were handed out in exchange for land deals during Lalu Yadav’s time as minister. The next hearing is set for October 13, where the court will scrutinize documents day by day. Earlier, the court had already summoned 16 people, including Lalu Prasad Yadav himself.
The judge also ordered the ED to update the accused’s memos and share copies of the supplementary charge sheet, along with related documents and a list of unused ones. Plus, the ED must provide the prosecution sanction details for Lalu Yadav to the defense.
Back in September 2024, the court issued summons to Lalu, his son and RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav, another son Tej Pratap Yadav, and several others like Akhileshwar Singh and his wife Kiran Devi. This marks the first time Tej Pratap Yadav faces a summons in the Land for Job scam, even though the ED didn’t formally charge him—the court found enough evidence to proceed anyway.
The ED filed its first supplementary charge sheet on August 6, 2024, naming Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejaswi Yadav, and others including Lallan Chaudhary, Hazari Rai, Dharmendra Kumar, Akhileshwar Singh, and Sanjay Rai. Sadly, four of them—Lallan Chaudhary, Lal Babu Rai, Kishun Dev Rai, and Sonmatia Devi—have passed away, so the court dropped proceedings against them.
Digging deeper into the scam, the ED claims shell companies played a big role. Take AK Info System, set up by businessman Amit Katyal in 2006-07. It pretended to do IT data work but really snapped up land parcels, including ones linked to the job-for-land deals. In 2014, the company switched hands to Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi and Tejaswi Yadav for just one lakh rupees—a steal, investigators say.
Then there’s A B Export, started in 1996 for supposed export business. But in 2007, it got Rs 5 crore from shady sources and bought a prime property in New Friends Colony, Delhi.
At the heart of it all: seven land parcels in Patna and elsewhere that Lalu’s family allegedly grabbed for peanuts. Rabri Devi, daughter Hema Yadav, and daughter Misa Bharti are said to have benefited. They later sold some at massive profits. One example? Four plots bought for Rs 7.5 lakh from desperate job seekers were flipped to former RJD MLA Syed Abu Dojana for Rs 3.5 crore. A chunk of that cash flowed straight to Tejaswi Yadav’s account, per the ED.
Raids in March 2024 across Delhi-NCR, Patna, Mumbai, and Ranchi uncovered a treasure trove: Rs 1 crore in unexplained cash, USD 1,900, 540 grams of gold bars, over 1.5 kg of jewelry worth about Rs 1.25 crore, and piles of property papers in family names. The ED estimates proceeds of crime at Rs 600 crore so far—Rs 350 crore in properties and Rs 250 crore in sneaky transactions through stand-ins.
The probe shows how poor families gave up land for Group D railway jobs, often from Lalu’s own constituencies where dozens got hired. The ED first filed charges in this money laundering probe on January 9, 2024, and the case keeps unfolding with fresh summons and details.
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